In the technical practice, valve battery insertion assemblies called cartridges are already known which implement the tasks of closing and opening the cold- and warm-water inlet pipelines, the mixing of cold- and warm water as well as the routing of the mixed water to the outlet of the valve battery in a single structural assembly, the so-called cartridge.
In their basic design, these cartridges include a cartridge casing bordered with a base, an inlet disc fixed inside the cartridge casing as well as a control disc suitable to be displaced and rotated on the inlet disc on the side opposite to the base.
The control disc is driven through a ceramic moving element by means of a driving arm pivoted in the lever holder.
The level holder supporting the driving arm is arranged in the cartridge casing so as to allow it to be rotated.
In the inlet disc and the control disc, appropriate bores and holes are shaped for the purpose of controlling the inlet of cold- and warm water as well as the outlet of mixed water.
The cartridges of simpler design described above are widely used; in fact, they are capable of fulfilling the basic functions expected of a cartridge used in valve batteries, even without any addition.
There are, however, an increasing demand for cartridges to fulfil other functions as well.
The functions required most frequently are the pressure equalization, the use of non-return valves and the reversibility.
The pressure equalization of both the cold water and warm water is a very important task; otherwise, any sudden change in the pressure of either inlet branch would result in scalding and cold water shock, respectively, to the user.
Pressure reduction of cold water inlet occurs frequently if a cold water consumer device e.g. toilet rinsing tap is mounted near the mixing valve; in fact, its operation results in sudden decrease in the cold water support pressure which, in turn, causes the sudden rise of mixed water temperature from the cartridge without pressure equalization.
The non-return valves are necessary in installations where the possibility exists that water from the branch of higher pressure flows to that of lower pressure when the cartridge is open.
The possibility of reversion is necessary to allow the cartridge to be connected to an unusual cold water and warm water supply arranged e.g. on two sides of a bathroom wall.
According to the present state of technique, various solutions of the above tasks are known.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,725,010 describes a pressure equalizer and mixing valve battery in which the pressure equalizer assembly is arranged in the valve battery body between the traditional cartridge and the water inlet pipes.
The patent application No. EP 0559998 also describes a cartridge with pressure equalization. Its essence is, that the base of the traditional cartridge is provided with a protrusion which includes a seat arranged perpendicular to the symmetry axis of the cartridge, and a pressure equalizer is arranged perpendicular to the symmetry axis of the cartridge in the said seat.
Usually, the non-return valves are mounted directly on the inlet pipelines themselves; thus, according to the traditional practice, they are not integrated into the cartridge.
For the solution of reversion, the U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,270 is known, where the reversion is performed by a cylinder which is mechanically independent of the cartridge.
The patent application No. EP 0771980 also describes a solution in which the structural elements of various function are fastened by means of connecting elements to the relevant cartridge casing.
The application No. EP 0 684 416 discloses a cartridge, where in the base of the cartridge there are formed two separated and partly widened conducting openings, separately for the cold and warm water, further in the widened part of each opening there is arranged a back-flow preventer valve, both of them can be manufactured integrally.
This solution is excellent, when the two separate inserts do not have to communicate with each other, however cannot be used if the two separate inserts have to communicate with each other, or have to be connected to each other.
An unfavorable feature of the above solutions is that they are task-specific; this means that the base of cartridge shall be designed according to the task.
In order to eliminate the above unfavorable features, the present invention is aimed at establishing a solution which, without any special technical knowledge, can be used universally for providing the cartridges known in themselves with elements of various additional functions.
This invention is aimed at implementing a cartridge which ensures quickly and safely that, by using cartridges known in themselves and elements performing various additional functions, an arrangement integrated simply and quickly can be established.
According to the present invention, the above task is solved by means of an universal mixing valve battery cartridge—used primarily for mixing cold water and warm water—which has two discs arranged one above the other to form a plane sealing together, being the lower disc a stationary inlet disc and the upper disc a control disc suitable to be displaced and rotated on the inlet disc; where said control disc is in mechanical connection with a driving arm pivoted in a lever holder—through a ceramic moving element as the case may be—and the lever holder is arranged in the cartridge casing that allows it to be rotated; while on the base of the cartridge a connection place is formed or arranged for the reception of at least one insertion piece, further the opening for the admission of the insertion piece of the connection place is formed principally in a direction which is parallel with the longitudinal axis of the cartridge, whereas the connection place is an outwardly directed sleeve, arranged or formed on the base, wherein the cold and warm water inlet formed in the base are ending.
In a preferred embodiment of the mixing valve battery cartridge according to the invention, the insertion piece, which is partly arranged in the connection place, is partly arranged between the valve battery casing and the connection place.